


Crowned Fool

by chaoticpeace



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Gen, king AU, royalty boner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 04:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1213198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticpeace/pseuds/chaoticpeace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Mad King has summoned the three ex kings and the two uncrowned to participate in his second "games" after his ... less than favorable return. Who will uncrown the Mad King and overcome his bloody reign?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crowned Fool

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posting with my tumblr account (chaoticpeace10.tumblr.com). I'll probably post things occasionally here that are also cross posted. 
> 
> This was a self prompt for my first RT fandom fiction piece. Hope you all enjoy~!

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

 

Blood dripped from the tip of his diamond blade as he slightly moved through the blood covered halls. The halls that had once been grand, covered in paintings or tapestries, depending on the king that sat on the throne at the time. He wasn’t sure if ‘king’ was a proper word to describe the rulers of the kingdom of Achievement City though… not anymore… Not since the reign of the First, of True King Geoff , the only ruler that had ruled longer than a bare handful of years… And the only one who hadn’t spilled blood to sit on the throne. Thinking about those good years of fair ruling and good wealth throughout the kingdom, the young jester’s hand clenched tighter at the prize in his hand.

 

\---------------

 

_Oh god… Had the Mad King really gone insane? Watching as each of our companions raced away from the field we’ve been dumped in. It seemed to start as a joke… The young commoner, I could have sworn his name was ‘Kerry’, I believe I saw him in the city or the castle walls, but all Ryan… all the Mad King called him was young assistant… and then our friends started calling him that too._

_When Ryan… when the Mad King had him start counting, we laughed… then we were warned and we were worried… Then we ran. Hunting hounds snapped at our ankles. At the edge of the forest, I watched as he drew a map out, one of his magicked things, and took to hunting each of us… I could hear the screams from Michael - dear Mogar, the valiant knight - first as he was knocked down and forced to submit as I climbed into the branches above. The next distant voice was the True-was Sir Geoff turning to challenge and giving out a war cry at the Mad King before being knocked to his knees. I didn’t hear when it happened but apparently Ray… the one I thought would win… he’d been found in my own home… and injured with prejudice-as if the Mad King feared him more than the rest of us. Dear Mogar assured me he was fine later, having halted the king from a fatal blow._

_It was Jack’s screams and weeping below my feet that startled me the most. I hear /him/ so close, I thought I was next… But he chased the Woodsman instead and left the young assistant to find me… The scream of terror that rang out through the forest the marked Jack’s lost and my victory in this first game made me shiver…_

_The Mad King’s stare, filled with contemplation and eager bloodlust, when I climbed out of the tree… That made me even more afraid then the day he appeared again in Michael’s court._

 

\---------------

 

The day the Mad King reappeared in the royal court was…. it was terrifying to say the least. They all had thought the insanity had gone with him when the Red King slayed him years ago but to see him standing there in the doorway with the glowing eyes… Gavin shivered at the memory. The reappearance of the thought dead Mad King prodded the growing bloodlust in King Mogar and the challenges for the throne began anew...

 

\---------------

 

_The Mad King had us ushered around the city, as if we were prizes in his little game… which we seemed to be at that point. Geoff still held his head up in defiance and Jack… Jack tried but you could see the exhaustion in his face already, the fear that laced his eyes whenever the Mad King gave out a chuckle. The young assistant prodded our heels if we slowed down too much or tried wandering from the group but after a while it seem… we were basically broken... And to where we were being taken, shook us all to the core._

_Then Geoff and Jack suddenly seemed to switch… at the sight of Geoff’s destroyed home. What was once a magnificent landmark in the city… was now ruins with pathways of ladders leading upward to a floating bell in the sky above our heads. And our only order, with drawn bows pointed at our backs “Be the first to ring the bell.” I was about to scramble up the ladders behind the others when the Mad King stopped me by throwing a pair of boots in front of me, “Fool, put those on. Think of it as a gift for being such a coward in the first round… and a replacement for your piss boots~” he mocked with a grin at my yellow clad feet. I could feel my face reddening as I scrambled to follow his orders, instantly able to recognize the lightness on my feet… something that would be useful later, perhaps…_

_Before I could get to my feet, though, I heard a yell and a thud as Michael fell to the ground from a height up, a slice in his hand where an arrow brushed him an a manic grin on the young assistant’s face. Dear Gods above… they were shooting at us. In answer to the look of horror on my face, the Mad King chuckled and waved at a chest to the side. “There are arrows and bows in there, feel free to join him in shooting at each other~”_

_It didn’t take long until the sight of his broken home broken Geoff and he stood to the side and was taking pot shots at each of us climbing. And the sight of the broken Geoff seemed to relight something in Jack… who finally overcame the challenge… and the Mad King stared at him just as he had with me either._

 

\---------------

 

As he walked through the halls, Gavin shivered at the thought of the stares that the Mad King gave… the stares from eyes that seemed to no longer to be his own. They haunted the group of friends now, haunting their nightmares and waking dreams. And it seemed that, when the Mad King won- when he took the throne from King Mogar, the kingdom was turned to ruins in his wake. The villagers that could ran, but the Mad King seemed to know that they all ran. After a while, there was no where else for them to run. Gavin shivered, remembering how he had put it… That the villagers were like cattle to slaughter.

 

\---------------

 

_The group of five of us stared up in horror to the top of the ravine we'd had been trapped in. No where to run, no where to hide. And it seemed that we were to take whatever challenge the Mad King threw at us and win._

_What we didn’t expect was for him to literally to start throwing cattle over the edges of the ravine surrounding them. No of us expected the rain of monsters that fell with them, with the order for us to simply endure it, kill them too. But only our killing of the cattle would count, our collection of meat. I gagged at the thought, at the pointless slaughter of the kingdom’s food supply for a … a game. And a game of slaughter that Ray found himself victorious in. And a knowing look down on him from of madness…_

 

\---------------

 

Insanity seemed to rip through all the kings that shed blood to hold the crown. The Mad King hadn’t been so insane when he first took Geoff’s crown but the blood lust from the crown seemed to do something to him...something that even the villagers saw. And then the Red King didn’t even wait for him to call for the games - a tradition that the True King started long ago and where the Mad King had betrayed their friend and stolen the crowd.

 

While Geoff was still recovering, Gavin watched his friend spill the blood the crown sung for-but it wasn’t a wound that any of them thought the Mad King would return from. He had died that day. They all believed he had gone to the Nether to burn for eternity. What they never expected was to see him return, eager to destroy the friendships built up, like what he had started when he first took the crown.

 

\---------------

 

_“You’ve all been working well together… there have been some good team dynamics going on. So…” he smirked wildly at all of us. Our eyes were slowly opening, hazy from whatever poison he had drugged us with… We all had diamond swords in our hands and were surrounded on all sides by lava and a dark stone face. High above was where the Mad King voice fell from as he chuckled his last words. “I propose a team breaking exercise. Kill your teammates~” he cackled._

_We all stared at each other in horror. Did he really… expect us to kill each other? Jack and Geoff stared harder as each other, knowing that they were the thickest pair and were expect to go after each other… The other three of us… our faces dropped. But … what if we refused._

_As we all stood there, shocked by the horror, the Mad King must have grown bored and waves his hand to the young assistant beside him. “Start killing them if they don’t move in 30 secs,” and the blue clad boy nodded, raising a bow and counting._

_Jack was the first to move, driving his sword at Geoff in a swiftness only the handful there have seen. And it struck true. The true king was downed… then vanished. Trickery… magic… I realized that it was just a new mention of his torture… It seemed Michael either realized this too or sought revenge for our friend as he attacked Jack… I turned to Ray, trying to explain, but he - running at me in either attack or to protect - drove himself onto my sword. I dropped it in horror._

_The Mad King above cackled, “Go on, finish him, Mogar~” he prodded at the raging monster in the russet hair man’s body. Hands bloodied, I stood and took the attack, wishing for the end of the game… And woke up on the floor of the dining hall, surrounded by the others, looks mixed of concern and disgust on their faces. The Mad King’s face… was filled with joy as he called Michael the victor of the game and declare we all should continue feasting on the beef we were provided… we had provided…_

\---------------

 

Gavin knew games of dead always affected dear Michael particularly hard. His boi was always fighting against his rage when things got hard to deal with and when in battle, it was like there was another creature in control of the russet hair man’s body. A beast that wouldn’t hesitant to kill for pleasure. There were many a night where Gavin advised his friend and explained to him that he wasn’t a monster, that he wasn’t a creature or a king that would stand on a balcony and take pleasure in watching others suffer.  

 

\---------------

 

_From the balcony… from his balcony, the Mad King looks over us, gathered in the small courtyard below him. He lazily leaned against the stone railing with a mad gleam in his eyes as he chuckled to himself. “Go retrieve something for me… don’t worry though about digging for it though… the easiest way to go about getting it… push the button” he smirked and my stomach dropped. “Or the young assistant can push it for you~” he offered before we all scrambled as quickly as we could from his sight._

_“Is it…” Geoff muttered to me as we ran, offering warning to as many people as we could to leave. I merely nodded, thinking the same as him. If it was the button then they all needed to run. But we were on a time limit … and we all prayed that the city was as abandoned as possible, as many villagers having run at the rule of the Mad King._

_We left it to Ray to press the button… and we were right. It still did not stop our horror and broken spirits as we watched the city crumble. It had been created by the Mad King when he was once sane as a defense against armies attacking when the True King ruled… and now he was using it as defense against an imaginary foe… or at least one of his own creation._

_Unable to move, we just… watched and helped Geoff climb down into the ruins of what was once his city and then back up, escorting him through what was left of the city to the courtyard to present the Mad King his treasure… and he grinned bitterly as we still stood, united… broken and tired but united._

\---------------

 

United but broken, like pieces of various puzzled that happened to fit together and make a picture that made little sense. Gavin chuckled at the thought as his fists clenched at the objects they were holding tightly. Perhaps one day the puzzle would be whole again, as there was a missing piece from the odd groups six piece puzzle. A stray piece the needed to be found again and would - hopefully - one day, fill in the puzzle.

 

\---------------

 

_Rage filled the man’s eyes at he glared down on us, returning from the task of retrieving his Nether spawn. He wanted us broken apart, not united… “Another task then, one that we will start now.” He waved his hand and the young assistant appeared, carrying a large chest. “Spilt up the gubbins in the chest and go break down the monuments around us. There are too many and I’m tired of being reminded of reign’s not mine,” he growled at them. The three ex king next to myself and Jack shivered in anger._

_Unsure where to go, we all slipped away into the ruins and then past them… to the walls and then past them. “So… what now?” Ray muttered, voice tired. They turned to look at myself and Geoff, knowing us to be the planners of much of the monuments. Geoff merely looked at me. And I smiled lightly, “Anyone want to see a light show?” as I lead the way to the large creature and monster statues in the distance, one filled with explosives already._

 

\---------------

 

The plan to undermine the Mad King’s thirst for destruction had worked out. The explosive had been laid and lit and Gavin had even muttered how he had hated that thing anyway. Then Geoff had laughed, punching him in the shoulder and reminded him that his choice of clothes reflected the same creature they were destroying. And that the monument, filled with explosives harvested from the beasts, had also been Gavin’s idea. In fact, the whole thing of creeper and creeper jokes usually circled back around on Gavin… whether the outcome was good or not.

 

\---------------

 

_Perhaps our choice of monument to destroy wasn’t… the best idea… Because the Mad King decided to stare at me when we returned. He grinned madly as he waved us in to invite us into the castle’s innermost courtyard. “Your choice of destruction inspired me…” he commented, voice ringing out through the halls as the group walked. What they didn’t expect was to be stripped of all the dynamite we saved…_

_We also didn’t expect to have another potion dumped on us as we entered the courtyard. We all were blinded for moments as our eyes were clouded by the gas billowing up into them. The hazy feel finally went away… but I didn’t expect to see what we all saw when they cleared…_

_Myself._

_Somehow the potion cloaked our eyes to see each other as … me… My gut twisted in fear as swords pierced the ground at each of our feet. What… “The task is simple… Kill Gavin.” Oh gods… Everyone around me - I couldn’t tell who was who - seemed to swallow as we bent over to retrieve the swords, afraid of what the Mad King would do to us if we didn’t… Looking around, though we were still in the courtyard, it was easy enough to reason that it was a similar sleep as the team killing ‘exercise’ as before… We could deduce that we all were asleep… And perhaps… it’d be faster for me too…_

_“It’s me, guys…” I whispered and all their heads snapped to look at me as I threw my sword to the side. It didn’t occur for me to listen for it’s fall. “It’s like the team killing… It’s just a dream…” I reasoned as I spread my arms out, asking them to end the ‘event’ quickly. Everyone stood around though, hesitating… so i shouted “KILL ME-” I was cut off by the pain that blossomed through the side of my chest._

_Looking down, I could see the red… and the illusions fell. The horror in Michael’s eyes as he stood in front of me, hands dropping from his sword… everyone else gasped in various levels of horror… Mogar… dear Michael collapsed in a ball of broken and submission. The Mad King above cackled as I collapsed, glaring up at him. “The fool is dead!” he cried in celebration._

_Then there was a rush of movement and then darkness…_

\---------------

 

The darkness had eventually given away to pain as Gavin realized he had survived, thin armor knocking the death blow away enough so he would live. Underneath the repaired armor was a new scar, one among many now… But the supposed death and the unknown source of aid helped… It saved him and he was able to save everyone now… without having to submit to the Mad King’s mad games.

 

\---------------

 

_Not having to submit now, was the best thing that happened to me… the sword to the chest though sucked hard though… Being able to sneak behind the scenes and not have to deal with the Mad King’s games meant I could keep the other’s from sharing my almost fate. Watching from the shadows as the others were lead into a bunker below the castle. It was bedrock - how the insane man harvested the stuff was beyond me - and it looked like a … death chamber… the Mad King’s order to the young assistant were even more terrifying, “If they survive… kill them…”_

_My blood ran cold as I ran into a hatch I found and into a huge network of redstone… one that looked like it took a while… and looked like it would take longer to repair… A smirk crossed my lips as I reached into a magically inventory bag I’d been provided and retrieved a special item that everyone called me stupid to carry._

_A bucket of lava was dumped into the path of the button to the circuit around it. The redstone hissed in protest before it burnt out and the supports started burning underneath. The whole thing when up in flames as I climbed into a shadowy corner, laughing as I heard a shout of anger when the King realized that all his work had been laid to waste. I could help but giggle quietly._

 

\---------------

 

Laying the redstone network of doom to waste had been half the work though… Though the memory brought a bitter smile to Gavin’s face, it hadn’t solved his problems… Just helped slow the Mad King down…

 

\---------------

 

_The loud raging shouts of anger vibrated through the firey redstone network before the Mad King turned to the young assistant, telling him to go prepare for his next task. The young assistant looked almost eager as he ran off back up the stairs and his king turned back to my friends… I still feared for them. “Having you kill each other won’t work… so just kill yourselves.” He chuckled as he escorted them all into the room and locked them in, another potion, though familiar now, was thrown in and they muttered in confusion._

_I had to inch closer to hear but apparently they saw themselves in each other… terrifyingly similar to the effect we’d been under when they were ordered to kill me. Chewing my lip, I couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts they were suffering now… WIth the memories of my supposed death…_

_It didn’t take long, though, for Ray, the best fighter of us all, to quickly disarm everyone before throwing his sword at the door the Mad King stood on the other side of. I chuckled at the ex king’s bravery but pitied his stupidity… Instead of letting them out, the Mad King stormed off, leaving them to break down the door or the glass windows themselves. He had other matters to attend to…  Of course… I followed him._

 

\---------------

 

Gavin’s gut twisted in memory of what he saw next. The Mad King meeting up with his young assistant, dressed in diamond armor. Him raging around the room as he appeared to be preparing a spell… and then the youth’s body contorting in ways a body never should before it grew to a massive size, nearly splitting the armor in half. Once it’s form had settled, Gavin would admit he had nearly vomited and forced himself to run from his hiding spot to find and save the others. All he heard was, “My Edgar… destroy that pesky Red King for me… everyone too but particularly him…” as he ran.

 

\---------------

 

_Finding my way into the labyrinth built even lower than the chamber of doom was easy enough… Finding each of my comrades though… was far more difficult in the darkness. First I found Geoff and Michael, hundled back to back as they defended themselves against a group zombies. They looked elated and like they were thanking god to see me. Mogar threw himself to hug me, weeping apologizes for killing me and I took quick moments to reassure that I was fine. Looking to the True King, he understood my questioning look._

_“He said to kill Edgar.”_

_I shook my head, “It’s a trick… he turned the young assistant into a cow beast and set him loose. We have to find Ray and Jack,” I explained quickly before moving Michael to the side and stood. “What supplies do you have? I can move the fastest…”_

_They gave me near everything they’d found, a few swiftness potions - assuring me they weren’t poisoned - and full set of diamond armor. I found Jack soon after, explained the situation to him and sent him back toward Michael and Geoff, figuring the safety in numbers. He was bloodied, though, from a find with an ender creature… I prayed the group would find each other quickly… I prayed for Ray’s safety more…_

_The sounds of battle led me to Ray’s position. It was Ray’s shouts of pain and a moo of triumph that sent my blood boiling. Potion already in my veins, I rushed the beast and found the weak spot in it’s breast plate. There had been so much damage already done by Ray, it took no effort at all… Turning quickly, I breathed a sigh of relief.. Ray’s chest was still moving… he was still alive… I hadn’t been too late…_

_I turned next to examine the minotaur beast… but it was no longer a beast… but a boy again. I rushed forward and pulled my sword out of his body, knowing the damage already done but if he was too die… at least let it be in comfort and peace. As the blood squished, the young assistant gasped and muttered before a sigh of relief cover his face and a tired smile graced his lips._

_Then he was gone. Dead… I’d killed him._

_Next to the young assistant - Next to Kerry’s body, a cow skull laid, it’s long horns sharp and it’s cavities filled yet oozing some sort of poison that the Mad King must have used to make this happen… Looking to the side again, I couldn’t help but notice the tired smile across the other’s face and a finally understood what he’d been trying to say when I drew my blade out of him…_

_He had thanked me for killing him and ending his suffering, to himself… to the city and to the kingdom… I knew then… my next step._

 

\---------------

 

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

 

Blood dripped from the tip of his diamond blade as he slightly moved through the blood covered halls. The blood was not his… was not one of his friends… but was still one of an innocent boy… Gavin’s gut still twisted in agony over the death of the boy that the Mad King turned into a beast. One that must have been under as much brainwashing agony as the rest of them. One that surrendered… and still thanked him as his blade was pulled out of his torso. As much as he wished against it… these games were the bloodiest of all games yet. And there still was more blood to spill.

 

His march through the ruined castle’s halls finally brought him to the dark wooden doors, taller than two or even three of himself but somehow light enough to open with a slight touch… when the Mad King expected you. And it seemed that someone’s presence was expected.

 

A heavy feeling rolled out the doorway at him as the Fool pushed the doors open and a laughed seemed to surround him before it trailed out, “So… the Fool does live…” The Mad King chuckled deep in his throat as his fingers trailed around the rim of a golden goblet - one marked with roses - filled with some sort of liquid that he merely threw to the side. “I’ll have to admit, I did expect you to just run like a coward and let one of your friends win or even let the young Red King rule again… I quite enjoyed seeing him nearly go insane…” he chuckled a little deeper.

 

Gavin just stood there, doors wide open and flanking him on either side. His breath came out his exhausted huffs as he tried to calm himself. “Our…” he shuttered out.

 

“What did you-”

 

“OUR FRIENDS!” Gavin yelled, throwing the cursed cow skull into the middle of the throne room in anger before following it, innocent blood soaked sword held tight in his hand. “They are OUR friends, you TWAT! And you…” he choked out a half sob of frustration and anger, “And you tortured all of us for your amusing … and for your revenge…” he hissed.

 

And the Mad King’s red eyes merely stared at him before narrowing. “What about it, Fool? You are nothing to me in combat… Unable to complete simple tasks… you need victories to be handed to you by luck or pity. You, Fool… are nothing to me!” His growled as his voice took on the traits of the demons that he possessed… or perhaps they instead possessed him more than the loyal group of six friends believed could happen. A long diamond sword appeared in the Mad King’s hands and flew at him.

 

Sparks flew as the swords clashed and Gavin could instantly feel himself being overwhelmed. It was a combination of the wear in his bones from the game’s insanities and the size the Mad King had over him. It didn’t take more than a handful of exchanged blows for his sword to crack and then splitter, pieces flying around him as he fell to his back, sword to his throat. Arms flailing around, Gavin’s hands brushes something solid but was unable to examine it before he was presented with a face full of the Mad King. “What now, Fool? What will you do now without your friends to save you? No True King, no Red King, no King Mogar, no Woodsman” He sliced a thin cut along each cheek like whiskers to punctuate each taunt. The red eyes over his face taunted him as the bloody Mad King smirked wildly before asking, “Any last words before I truly Kill Gavin?” pressing the thin blade to his throat.

 

The Fool swallowed thickly, fist clenching before he realized suddenly what he picked up. Suddenly, his face went from panicked to matching the Mad King’s smirk, “Yeah… I do…” before clenching the object in both hands and driving it upwards quickly. “Suck. My. Knob.” he growled as he let go of the cow’s skull in his hand. Surprise laced the Mad King’s face, eyes wide as his grip slackened quickly, Gavin taking advantage and slipping out of sword reach to watch as the blood around the sharp horn, pierced deeply into the Mad King’s heart, soaked his shirts.

 

Red eyes wide, the Mad King dropped his sword in panic and started patting around his chest, hands a glow with an eerie purple light but one that looked of sickness, not one that could heal. “No… no… You idiot!” he growled, voice inhuman as he glared at Gavin and continued trying to repair himself. But it was done. The skull, heavy and unsupported, fell from the hole and the bleeding seemed to intensify to an immeasurable amount and the familiar purple glow of the Mad King intensified as he shouted, “NO!” before he collapsed in a boneless pile.

 

Cautiously, the fool approached before flinching when he saw the body’s eyes open… to sharp, intelligent blue eyes. Familiar and friendly blue eyes. Tired blue eyes that were fading fast. “RYAN!” Gavin shouted in alarm as he finally found his friend, the one that taught him about redstone wiring and good magic and … oh Gods… “Ryan…” he whimpered sadly as he saw the good man, his good friend, merely smile tiredly at him - hauntingly similar to the smile in the labyrinth below on the face of a young assistant. One of thanks. One that knew it’s fate.

 

And Gavin prayed. Prayed for the good man’s forgiveness. Prayed for his soul. Prayed as he watched the cleansed blue eyes’ light fade and disappear… again. The young jester… the young King choked out a sob as he carefully shut them, knowing that the streaks of blood left behind would haunt him forever. Once done, he coughed and choked out a “Long live the king…” as he folded the other’s arms over his chest with the sword under his hands.

 

Carefully standing, Gavin carefully looked over his shoulder and glared at the object, scattered and forgotten on the floor, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to touch it. He knew it’s curse. How it sung for blood… how, in the early days, the drunken geoff would mutter “blood begets blood” when talking about the gold… The young fool hated the thought of touching the crown but knew what it had done to his dear friends… A cautious step towards it and he knelt next to it before his fingers brushed it, whispering, “All hail… the crowned fool.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> don't kill me?


End file.
